Analysts Set Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Target Price at $47.39

Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $47.33.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Comcast Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $37.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $142.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $41.06 and a 200-day moving average of $40.29.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 904.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after acquiring an additional 229,192 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 22,684 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $80,232,000 after purchasing an additional 68,139 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after buying an additional 15,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 3,816.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $21,866,000 after buying an additional 544,123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Company Profile

Comcast Corporation operates as a media and technology company worldwide. It operates through Residential Connectivity & Platforms, Business Services Connectivity, Media, Studios, and Theme Parks segments. The Residential Connectivity & Platforms segment provides residential broadband and wireless connectivity services, residential and business video services, sky-branded entertainment television networks, and advertising.